Photonic E-field sensor

Abstract

We report on both theoretical and experimental studies of a photonic implementation of the electric (E-) field sensor using a probe made with all-dielectric RF-transparent elements. The geometrical dimensions of the electric field probe can be smaller than the wavelength of the measured electromagnetic field in the material. Our theoretical calculations show that the sensor allows detecting electric fields in a broad frequency range (100 Hz-20 GHz) with sensitivity better than 1 μV/[Hz1/2 m]. We demonstrate the sensor operating at X-band and validate the theoretical predictions.